Technical Abstract:
The editors are N. Senesi and K.J. Wilkinson, and the book is published in 2008 by John Wiley and Sons, with 323 pages. This book is part of the IUPAC series on “Analytical and physical chemistry of environmental systems.” Nineteen generally well-known fractal scientists have contributed to this volume. They review fractal theory and apply it to natural systems in the environment. They discuss regular fractals that are mathematically-derived, versus random fractal systems in the environment. They describe mass, surface, and pore fractals, and describe uses and limitations for using fractal descriptions. They explain different techniques to measure natural fractal systems, including benefits and limitations of each procedure. They show how fractal descriptions are used to discuss various natural systems, including: clumping of iron particles in natural water systems, sorption of particles on random-fractal surfaces, as well as random fractal descriptions for soil aggregates, crystals, bacterial colonies, fungal hyphae, and particulate matter in air.